diff --git a/tasks/backend-dependencies-debian.yml b/tasks/backend-dependencies-debian.yml
index 004693c..7419eb3 100644
--- a/tasks/backend-dependencies-debian.yml
+++ b/tasks/backend-dependencies-debian.yml
@@ -2,4 +2,8 @@
 - name: install backend dependencies
   apt:
     name: python-requests
+  register: result
+  retries: 3
+  delay: 1
+  until: result is success
   tags: sensu
diff --git a/tasks/backend-dependencies-redhat.yml b/tasks/backend-dependencies-redhat.yml
index 38ef415..68f732a 100644
--- a/tasks/backend-dependencies-redhat.yml
+++ b/tasks/backend-dependencies-redhat.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@
     packages:
       - python-urllib3
       - python-requests
+  register: result
+  retries: 1
+  delay: 1
+  until: result is success
   tags: sensu
 
 - name: install backend dependencies
@@ -16,4 +20,8 @@
     packages:
       - urllib3
       - requests
+  register: result
+  retries: 3
+  delay: 1
+  until: result is success
   tags: sensu